SEC Launches Three More Backdating Probes

Law360, New York (June 16, 2006, 12:00 AM EDT) -- The flood of federal probes into options backdating continued this week, as three more companies received inquiries from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

On Thursday, Michaels Stores Inc., a Texas-based retail business, became the latest company to receive a letter from the SEC’s division of enforcement, requesting that it preserve all documents concerning stock option grants from 1990 to the present.

Michaels Stores’ audit committee is already conducting an internal review of historical stock option practices, focusing mainly on the period between 1990 and 2001....